The present invention relates generally to a drive for discs such as a floppy disc having high storage capacity received in cartridges, and more particularly, to a structure for preventing misinsertion of such disc cartridges.
Referring to FIGS. 38-39, a known 3.5' microfloppy-disc cartridge 201 or first recording-medium cartridge of first format includes a disc-like recording medium 202, a shell 203 rotatably accommodating the disc-like recording medium 202, and a shutter 204 slidably mounted to the shell 203 to close a head opening 203a formed in upper and lower halves of the shell 203.
The shell 203 is formed substantially like a flat rectangular parallelopiped, and has a front end face 203b as viewed in the direction of insertion in a cartridge holder 302 of a first drive 301. A groove 203c is formed in the front end face 203b to make a protrusion 309 of a shutter opening member 303 of the cartridge holder 302 contact one end 204a of the shutter 204. Moreover, an inclination 203e is formed at one end of the front end face 203b by slantingly cutting a corner thereof.
The first drive 301 for the first recording-medium cartridge 201 includes a cartridge holder 302 for holding the first recording-medium cartridge 201 as inserted therein and moving it between an insertion position and a loading position, the shutter opening member 303 mounted to the cartridge holder 302 to open the shutter 204 of the first recording-medium cartridge 201, a lifting member 304 for lifting the cartridge holder 302, a trigger lever or lock lever 305 for locking the lifting member 304 in a cartridge-holder lifting position, and an anti-misinsertion member 306 which when inserting in the cartridge holder 302 the first recording-medium cartridge 201 in a normal position, cooperates with the inclination 203e to allow loading of the first recording-medium cartridge 201.
Referring to FIG. 40, the shutter opening member 303 has one end rotatably mounted to a chassis 308, and another end or free end integrated with the shutter engaging protrusion 309. The shutter opening member 303 is formed with the trigger lever 305 in the vicinity of the shutter engaging protrusion 309. The shutter opening member 303, which receives a torque from a torsion coil spring 310, is set so that the shutter engaging protrusion 309 is introduced in the groove 203c of the first recording-medium cartridge 201 inserted in the cartridge holder 302, and the trigger lever 305 is positioned to be engaged with a lever engagement 304a of the lifting member 304.
The anti-misinsertion member 306, which is in the form of a torsion coil spring, includes a coil 306a engaged with a first spring engagement 302a arranged on the upper side of the cartridge holder 302. The coil 306a includes a first arm 306b extending from one end and engaged with a second spring engagement 302b arranged on the upper side of the cartridge holder 302, and a second arm 306c extending to a cartridge opening of the cartridge holder 302 along one side face thereof and having an end bent substantially at right angles to form a cartridge contact 306d. The cartridge contact 306d is entered in the cartridge holder 302 through a recess 302c formed in the upper side of the cartridge holder 302 to contact the inclination 203e of the first recording-medium cartridge 201 inserted in the cartridge holder 302.
With the first drive 301, referring to FIG. 41, when inserting in the cartridge holder 302 the first recording-medium cartridge 201 in a normal position, the cartridge contact 306d of the second arm 306c of the anti-misinsertion member 306 contacts the inclination 203e of the first recording-medium cartridge 201, and turns to the outside of the first recording-medium cartridge 201 to allow further insertion thereof in the cartridge holder 302.
Referring to FIG. 42, when inserting further in the cartridge holder 302 the first recording-medium cartridge 201, the shutter engaging protrusion 309 of the shutter opening member 303 is introduced in the groove 203c formed in the front end face of the first recording-medium cartridge 201, contacting the one end 204a of the shutter 204. When inserting further the first recording-medium cartridge 201, the shutter opening member 303 is rotated against a force of the torsion coil spring 310 to open the shutter 204. Referring to FIG. 43, as soon as the shutter 204 is opened, engagement of the trigger lever 305 with the lever engagement 304a of the lifting member 304 is released, so that the lifting member 304 is slid by a force of a biasing spring, not shown, to move downward the cartridge holder 302, chucking on a spindle the disc-like recording medium 202 of the first recording-medium cartridge 201.
On the other hand, referring to FIG. 44, when inserting in the cartridge holder 302 of the first drive 301 the first recording-medium cartridge 201 in other position than a normal position, the cartridge contact 306d of the anti-misinsertion member 306 does not contact the inclination 203e of the first recording-medium cartridge 201, and therefore cannot turn to the outside of the first recording-medium cartridge 201. Thus, the second arm 306c of the anti-misinsertion member 306 becomes in the stretched state to prevent insertion of the first recording-medium cartridge 201 in the cartridge holder 302.
In addition to the first drive 301 for the first recording-medium cartridge 201 as shown in FIGS. 38 and 40-44, there is known a first drive as shown in FIGS. 45-54.
The first recording-medium cartridge 201 driven by the first drive 301 has a concavity 211 for introducing a shutter engaging protrusion 309 of a shutter opening member 303 in a portion of a front end face 203b of a shell 203, which is closed by a shutter 204 upon shutter closing and faces outside upon shutter opening.
The first drive 301 includes a shutter opening member 303 having a shutter engaging protrusion 309, and a trigger lever 305 arranged separately. The first drive 301 as shown in FIGS. 45-54 is referred to as a first drive of a separate trigger type with respect to the first drive of an integrated trigger type as shown in FIGS. 39-44.
Referring to FIG. 47, the shutter opening member 303 has one end rotatably mounted to a cartridge holder 302 by a shaft 307, and another end or free end formed with the shutter engaging protrusion 309. The shutter opening member 303 receives a torque from a coil spring 311 so that the shutter engaging protrusion 309 contacts one end of a circular long hole 302d formed in the upper side of the cartridge holder 302.
On the other hand, the trigger lever 305 has one end rotatably mounted to a chassis 308 by a shaft 321, and another end or free end formed with an engagement 322 engaged with a lifting member 304. The trigger lever 305 is formed, in the vicinity of the engagement 322, with a pressed portion 323 pressed by the front end face of the first recording-medium cartridge 201 inserted in the cartridge holder 302. The trigger lever 305 receives a torque from a torsion coil spring 324 in the direction of engaging the engagement 322 with a lever engagement 304a of the lifting member 304.
Referring to FIGS. 48-49, when inserting the first recording-medium cartridge 201 in the first drive 301 of a separate trigger type, the shutter engaging protrusion 309 of the shutter opening member 303 of the first drive 301 is introduced in the groove 203c of the first recording-medium cartridge 201 formed in the front end face of the first recording-medium cartridge 201, contacting one end 204a of the shutter 204.
Referring to FIGS. 50-51, when inserting further the first recording-medium cartridge 201, the shutter opening member 303 is rotated against a force of the coil spring 311 to open the shutter 204. When the shutter 204 is opened, and the shutter engaging protrusion 309 faces the concavity 211 formed in the front end face of the first recording-medium cartridge 201, the first recording-medium cartridge 201 is inserted further in the cartridge holder 302 with the shutter engaging protrusion 309 being introduced in the concavity 211. Referring to FIGS. 52-53, the front end face of the shell 203 presses the pressed portion 323 of the trigger lever 305 to rotate the trigger lever 305 against a force of the torsion coil spring 324. Thus, engagement of the engagement 322 with the lever engagement 304a of the lifting member 304 is released, so that the lifting member 304 with lock by the trigger lever 305 removed is slid by a force of a biasing spring to move downward the cartridge holder 302, chucking on a spindle the disc-like recording medium 202 of the first recording-medium cartridge 201.
On the other hand, referring to FIG. 54, when inserting in the cartridge holder 302 of the first drive 301 the first recording-medium cartridge 201 in other position than a normal position, the concavity 211 of the first recording-medium cartridge 201 is not positioned to correspond to the shutter engaging protrusion 309 of the shutter opening member 303. Thus, due to stopper function of the shutter opening member 303, the first recording-medium cartridge 201 cannot be inserted further in the cartridge holder 302, and therefore cannot press the pressed portion 323 of the trigger lever 305, preventing misinsertion of the first recording-medium cartridge 201.
With an enlargement of the application field and sphere of recording-medium cartridges such as a disc cartridge, there is an increasing demand on an achievement of a second recording-medium cartridge of second format having a storage capacity far greater than that of the known first recording-medium cartridge of first format, and a second or superordinate drive for the second recording-medium cartridge. It is demanded that the second drive allows recording/reproducing of the first or subordinate recording-medium cartridge, i.e. has a subordination compatibility, and that the first drive disallows insertion of the second recording-medium cartridge.
The second recording-medium cartridge should be rotated at a speed several to several tens times as high as the first recording-medium cartridge, and thus has a magnetic film with modified surface roughness and thickness and a recording format modified. Therefore, data in the second recording-medium cartridge cannot be read out by the first drive.
Due to impossible readout of data recorded on a recording medium in the second recording-medium cartridge as described above, the fist drive may, when receiving the second recording-medium cartridge, arbitrarily determine that no data are recorded on the recording medium to carry out reformatting thereof, erasing data recorded.
Note that when using the shell of the first recording-medium cartridge for the shell of the second recording-medium cartridge, the second recording-medium cartridge is loaded in the first drive.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a second drive which allows loading of first and second recording-medium cartridges, i.e. has a subordination compatibility, and a first drive which disallows loading of the second recording-medium cartridge.